St. John's Wort: An Amazing Plant

With the best reputation among medicinal plants, St. John's Wort has indeed amazing properties. Read this article to know what they are!

HolisticZine Staff

Last Updated: Dec 21, 2017

Hypericum Perforatum, also known as St. John's Wort, has been used from ancient times and throughout the Middle Ages, when it was considered to be a magical plant which could ward off evil spirits and keep disease away. This plant has the best reputation among medicinal herbs. Thousands of tons of St. John's Wort plants are turned into medicinal products every year. St. John's Wort seems to have gained a lot of success as an antidepressant remedy. That is primarily because depression is the most spread-out disease in the world these days.

But the plant use cannot be limited to depression. People suffering from weather sensitivity for instance, and who are confronted with headaches, anxiety, sleep disorders, concentration problems and so on because of the meteorological phenomena, fully benefit from the St. John's Wort treatment. Patients who suffer because of the gloomy weather respond the best way to this kind of natural remedy. The result of using this plant is a positive mood, filled with joy and optimism.

They say obsessive compulsive disorders could also be treated with St. John's Wort. One half of a cup for several times a day is said to have a good effect on people suffering from this condition. Although the studies made in this respect are rather few and sometimes contradictory, based on the practical evidence taken by doctors by observing how their patients' state of mind improved after the constant use of this plant, one could say that with the help of this remedy one can obtain good results in curing such a disease, or at least in reducing the intensity and frequency of the patients' manifestations.

St. John's Wort is not as efficient for curing anxiety as it is for depression, numerous patients and especially the ones suffering from anxious depression have obtained encouraging results with the use of this plant. It's highly recommended to use a mixture of St. John's Wort with linden, in equal proportions.

It is also excellent for curing obesity and weight problems. It's a well-known fact that overeating and eating too little are both related to emotional unbalances in the human system. And many doctors in Germany and in the US have obtained remarkable results by treating patients suffering from obesity with this plant. Since it gives a state of positive energy and of vigilance, it reduces the suffering produced by the reduction of food intake. It puts somebody in the mood of leading an active, sportive life and because of that it's really efficient against obesity. The treatment does not aim only at losing a few pounds. These pounds might in fact be regained when the next emotional crisis comes along. St. John's Wort is said to resolve the patients' main issue, i.e. their lifestyle.

Some other problems that can be solved with the help of this miraculous plant are nicotine or alcohol addiction. This has been tested on animals which had been previously induced alcohol or nicotine addiction. When these two have been instantly ceased, they had a lot fewer negative symptoms. In practice, patients who wish to give up on these vices have higher chances to succeed if they follow a St. John's Wort treatment, which on one hand can help reduce the adjustment period's negative effects, and on the other hand can help put into motion the psychological resources for getting through difficult times. A cure can last for about 6 weeks and it must generally be followed by another 3-4 weeks of pause.

PMS syndrome can also be efficiently treated with this plant. Of course, every patient's symptoms may vary. In this respect, the observations made by Bratman and Rosenthal show that the patients' psychological dispositions are highly improved; thus, there is a reduction in symptoms such as mental irritability, depression, attention and concentration deficiencies, as well as mental hyper excitability. All these are typical of the premenstrual or menstrual period and can be successfully treated with St. John's Wort. The very same doctors have noticed an improvement in the general mental state of women in their pre-menopausal period. In all of these cases, one can take St. John's Wort powder four times a day (one teaspoon), during a period of 28 days with 10-14 days of break.